The Girl Most Likely To ... - Part 9
by Barbara Lynn Terry

(Author's note: The Pine Meadows Home For Adolescent Girls is based on a real girls residential treatment center (RTC), that has most of the programs I will put in this story. The girls at this RTC are from decent families, and that is where they get their caring for others from. The only reason the girls are there is because they fell in with the wrong crowd, and consequently got in trouble, but not serious trouble. The age range is from 12 to 18 years old.)

Rachel meets a new friend.

"All right, honey, you can go and do whatever for now. Dinner is at six."

"Thank you, mom."

"For what, sweetie?"

"For having me here, so I can learn to be me."

"Oh honey," Madelline embraced Rachel in a motherly hug. "We're actually glad to have you. You know, Rachel, you can teach us just as much as we can teach you."

"How?"

"Because, first of all you have shown us the side of you we were not expecting. That is what Sharon meant when she said you were who we were expecting, only not expecting. Honey, you are now one of the girls, a sister to every other girl here. I will treat you like you were my own daughter. There is one other thing. You are free to roam the grounds, if you want, and you are also free to go jogging along the road that runs by the house. Tomorrow, you will see Dr. Poole, he will ask you questions, give you a few tests and a complete physical. Then he will sit down and talk to you. You just be yourself."

"Yes, mom. Thank you."

"You are more than welcome, honey. Now, scoot."

If you have ever lived with girls, you know they have to hear everything that is going on, especially when they are told to make themselves scarce. These girls are no different.

"Rachel," Janice Peyton, started. "I want to welcome you too, to Pine Meadows. What mom said is true. We are not restricted here. We can come and go as we please, and the only reason we don't run away is because we know we need help. So we depend on each other for that help."

Sandra Erickson was the next one to speak to Rachel. "We have group and individual therapy sessions here too for about 45 minutes a session. Individual therapy is where you see the psychiatrist, psychologist or one of the psychotherapists one on one. Now Dr. Poole is really nice. He will ask you what you think your therapy should be, and sister, you just tell him you want to transition in to being a physical girl. He will make sure that is what your therapy will be while you are here. The court put you here until you are eighteen, and you can develop a lot in four and a half years."

"Rachel, I'm Debra Sanger, I'm fifteen and have been here since I was twelve. I want you to know that I am also available if you ever need to talk. See, Rachel ..."

"Can you just call me Rach?"

"Yes, I would like that. Now see, that is girl thinking. Anyway as I started to say, we can go in to town on our own. We get paid an allowance for the chores we do, and we get extra for good behavior. So there is incentive here to behave."

"Rach, I'm Darlene Simpson, I'm fifteen years old, too. When you get to the school, we have a computer room, there. We have all the regular subjects, like U.S and world history, science, health, math, social studies and home economics. We don't have physical education, because we have an exercise room for that, that we can use any time. So, little sister, what do you want to do?"

"I...I'm...I'm just..."

"OMG she's crying again. Somebody get a box of tissues." Darlene hugged her new little sister, and stroked her hair. "It will be all right, sis, you'll see. I know this can be overwhelming on the first day, and especially for you wanting to experience the life you have been denied for too long. When everything happens all at once, you get overwhelmed. Believe me, sis, I know what that is like. Come, let's go in the living room."

They all sat around Rachel, and started singing "Singing In The Kitchen" and older song by Bobby Bare but which seems to be a Pine Meadows favorite. Rachel couldn't sing along, not only because of her tears, but because she had never heard this song before. The only music that she had ever heard was country and big band music. Her father didn't like rock and roll or jazz or anything other kind of music.

So Rachel just sat there and listened to the chorus of her sisters, singing this humorous song that was made four decades ago. Twelve year old Joy Carver, sat next to Rachel, and laid her head on Rachel's left arm.

"Sister Rachel, my name is Joy Carver, and I am twelve years old. I just came here last month, so I'm new here too. You know what you need, sis? You need to get your snow clothes on, and we can go down to the stables and see the horses. Come on, sis, let's go."

The other girls agreed that that is exactly what Rachel needed. If the horses couldn't cheer her up, well, they would take it from there. Right now their only concern was the emotional well being of their new sister. What men don't understand about women, is that being one of the girls is an exclusive privilege not afforded to men. Men seem to think that the boys club is exclusive, but it has been invaded by many women. The girls club, however, remains inviolate and exclusive. Even though Rachel is still a phsyical male, she has never really been a boy, even though she pretended to be one through her bully act.

This what the girls saw in Rachel, as soon as they saw her outside when she first got there. So getting in to their warm snow clothes, they headed for the stables. The stables was a large, heated barn that you had to go down a wooded path to get to. Once inside, the girls slid their thick parkas off of their heads. Joy took Rachel over by a beautiful roan mare, and took an apple from the basket, and had Rachel hold it in the palm of her hand. The horse took the apple and nodded with a slight whinnie.

Rachel looked at the horse and at Joy and wondered how Joy ever got up on the horse's back.

"My sister's help me. Or, if I come down here by myself, there is a small step stool I can use. Come, Rach, I want to introduce you to your horse."

"Mmy...my...horse?"

"Yes, silly, your horse. She is very beautiful, and has had only a few girls ride her before you. Her name is Midnight." They went a few stalls away, and Rachel saw a really beautiful black mare. She was reminded of the stories she had read in the library about heroes that rode such horses.

"She's beautiful."

"Give her an apple."

Rachel gave Midnight an apple, and the horse took it. Joy smiled.

"Midnight, this is Rachel. She's going to be your new friend."

Midnight nudged Rachel, slightly, and whinnied, then tapped her hoof three times.

"She likes you, sis."

"Nobody...has...ever...I mean..."

As Rachel started crying again, Midnight put her head next to Rachel's in a hug. The other girls just watched Rachel and the horse bond. This is the crucial moment, when either she will perk up, slightly, or fall to pieces. Rachel put her right arm on the other side of Midnight's head, and horse and friend just stood there. Rachel broke the hug, and looked at Midnight.

"Thank you, Midnight. I needed that." The horse whinnied and tapped her hoof three times. Rachel gave her another apple, and promised Midnight that she would be back.

The girls headed back towards the house, when they saw a fire truck go by on the road. It was headed towards a farm house, that when they came off of the path, could see orange flame in the sky not too far down the road.

"That's auntie Wanda's house!" Sharon exclaimed. When they went inside the house, they saw Wanda Jameson talking to Madelline.

"Oh auntie Wanda, you're safe."

"Yes, Sharon, I am. I was outside when the house caught fire. I raced down here to call the fire department. I told them where I would be if they had any questions. Who is this girl?"

"Aunt Wanda, this is Rachel. She just came here today."

"Hi Rachel, I'm Wanda Jameson. You may call me aunt Wanda, if you like.

"Thank you, aunt Wanda. My but we have a lot of relatives here," Rachel added. Everybody giggled.

"Rachel," Darlene started, "the people around here are friends, and they have asked us to call them aunts or uncles, and we appreciate that kindness very much. During the harvest season, we can go and get whatever it is we want from their fields, as long as we use what we get. We get a lot of corn and other veggies from aunt Wanda. Aunt Wanda, what will you do, if you can't live in the house?"

"I have insurance, and I have the guest cottage I can stay in."

"Is there an uncle Jameson?" Rachel asked, innocently.

"My husband passed away two years ago. I still have my farm hands, and I have a lady that comes now and then to play cards."

"Mrs....erm, aunt Wanda, I don't know how to play card games, but I would like it if you could teach me."

"Why, I would love to teach you, Rachel. Just come by the house, and we will sit and have tea, and play gin rummy, or hearts, or anything else you want to learn. If you want to play canasta, you will have to bring two of your sisters along, because that is really a four person game."

"Aunt Wanda, there is something about Rachel you should know. She hasn't had any kind of a decent life at home, and she is just overwhelmed by all the kindness she has found here."

"Thank you, Sharon. Oh my dear, come here." Wanda Jameson gave Rachel the biggest hug Rachel had ever gotten, besides from her sisters and Madelline. "You can come by my house anytime you feel like it."

"Thank you, aunt Wanda."

"Think nothing of it, dear."

"Aunt Wanda," said a girl whom Rachel had not met yet. "You are stayng for dinner. Aren't you?"

"Well, since I am now invited, yes, I will stay for dinner. What's for slop tonight?" There were giggles, because Wanda Jameson even called her own gourmet cooking, slop.

"Boiled dinner."

"How much fat is on the corned beef?"

"Enough to make a gazillion bottles of perfume."

"I'm staying, then." There were more giggles.

The girl came over by Rachel and introduced herself as Stephanie Reading, and she is sixteen.

"It is nice to meet you, Stephanie."

"Likewise, sister Rachel. Well, I better get back to my cooking. See you at dinner, everybody."

All of a sudden, Rachel felt that there were a lot of eyes staring at her. She looked up to see all the girls looking at her.

"What?"

"What do you think, Darlene?"

"Yes, Sharon, she will make a good model."

"Model?"

"Well, we were thinking, you know how to dress, but we were thinking about teaching you makeup. We are not allowed to wear eye shadow other than what matches our skin tones. We can't even wear eye liner until we are at least sixteen. We thought that we would do your makeup for you tomorrow, when you have to go and see Dr. Poole, and then when you get back, we can show you again, how it is done."

"I would like that, thank you. You know what I would really like to do, when I graduate from high school? I'd like to go to beauty school."

"You will also have a counselor, too. Your counselor can help you get in to a really decent beauty school. If that is what you want, sis, then that is what they will help you get."

"Sharon, I really...I really..."

"Oh no, girlfriend. No person can have that much water in them. Get another box of tissues. Rach, we are very concerned about you right now, because you haven't had time to assimilate your surroundings to your life yet. This is only the first day, sis, so don't try to do everything at once. Take it little by little, and you will see how much more relaxed you are. When each one of us got here, we tried to do everything on the first day, and by the time it was bed time, we were not only exhausted, but we couldn't hardly sleep, because we wanted to do more. So take it from those who have been there. Take it little by little and you will be more relaxed. Definitely."

"Thank...you...Shar...on," Rachel said, through her sniffles. Sharon hugged her sister and told her, "everything is all right, now, you're home".